NEWS-HR

A heart surgeon who died after he was punched outside a hospital in Melbourne’s east had to be restrained as he was thrashing about after the attack, a court has been told. Patrick Pritzwald-Stegmann, 41, died in hospital four weeks after he was punched in the head in the foyer of Box Hill Hospital on May 30. Joseph Esmaili, 22 of Mill Park, has appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court via video link charged over the death. The court was told Mr Pritzwald-Stegmann, a father of two, was bleeding from the nose and tried to get up after the attack. Defence barrister John Desmond said treating doctors noted Mr Pritzwald-Stegmann was agitated and disorientated and he was not able to be placed onto a spinal board. The court heard one witness, a security officer, said he had to help restrain the surgeon as he was thrashing about as he was being taken to the emergency department. In a previous court hearing, police said they believed the surgeon was attacked following an argument with the accused over smoking near the hospital. The incident was captured on CCTV. Six doctors will be among the witnesses to give evidence at a committal hearing scheduled for February 12. Esmaili was remanded in custody.

The South Australian RSL has taken another small step in its long road to recovery by appointing a chief executive. Corey Starkey has signed an 18-month contract to manage the state branch until well beyond the next board election in July. Mr Starkey, 41, has been appointed after — in an interim role — steering the branch through financial strife and damaging internal division. Uncertainty surrounding who would run the state RSL has swirled since former chief executive Julia Langrehr resigned in January.

A s.185 (Enterprise agreement) application by Galambila Aboriginal Health Service Inc for its Galambila Aboriginal Health Service Incorporated General Enterprise Agreement 2017 has been approved by Commissioner Johns in Sydney on 22 September 2017.

Nursing homes are in lockdown as frontline Gold Coast health providers continue to reel from one of the worst flu seasons in decades. An aged care nursing source revealed three homes on the Coast are currently in lockdown due to flu outbreaks.

A personal support worker caught on video repeatedly punching an elderly man in the head apologized to the man’s family, saying he would accept whatever sentence the court decided. Jie Xiao pleaded guilty in July to one count of assault in connection with the attack four months earlier on 89-year-old Georges Karam. Xiao, speaking in Mandarin through a translator at his sentencing hearing Thursday, told Karam’s family he was “deeply sorry for what I did.” Xiao, a 44-year-old permanent resident, told the court he did not intend to hurt Karam, but that in that moment he failed to remember his duty to his client. “I have used the wrong way of doing things,” he said.

Healthscope Operations Pty Ltd T/A Healthscope has had its Healthscope – Queensland – Allied Health Employees – Enterprise Agreement – 2017 – 2020 application approved.

A s.185 (Enterprise agreement) application by Huntingdon Nursing Home Pty Ltd for its Huntingdon Nursing Home Pty Ltd NSWNMA, ANMF NSW Branch and HSU New South Wales Branch Enterprise Agreement 2017 has been approved by Commissioner Saunders in Melbourne on 21 September 2017.

San Carlo Homes for the Aged & Alleva and Others are running a s.576(2)(aa) (Promoting cooperative and productive workplace relations and preventing disputes) before Commissioner Cribb on-site at San Carlo Italian Aged Care, 970 Plenty Road, South Morang VIC 3752 today.